re: #58 HappyWarrior

Spent the day in my grandparents hometown. Everyone I talked to was really nice and friendly. It’s a place that’s seen better days. I got a little emotional in the Ethnic Discovery museum because I got an idea of what life must have been like for an Eastern European immigrant like my mother’s grandparents in a strange, new land. Their life wasn’t easy but they did what they did their children, grandchildren, and now we their great grandchildren could live better lives. I also learned a touching thing about my great grandmother and how she refused to institutionalize my great aunt and instead raised her with my grandfather’s siblings and then my grandfather himself when he arrived a year later.

I learned through my family research that my grandfather and his first wife had adopted a baby girl in 1895. She was listed in the 1900 census record, along with their son and a boarder. I’m not sure my father even knew of her, since he was from the second marriage and the girl died while my dad was still in high school. But she did marry and have kids, and her granddaughter contacted me several years ago. We were able to piece together the girl’s history.

She was born in Canada. My grandpa and wife #1 were living in Montreal in the 1890s. The girl was probably illegitimate, and from her facial features in photos of her teenage years could have been First Nations descent. Her surname before adoption was the same as a doctor who was boarding with my grandfather in 1900. So, we suspect either the doctor was her natural father, or perhaps he had delivered the baby and found it a good home.

Anyway, my grandfather apparently doted on the girl, took her fishing when she was old enough, and made sure she and her adoptive mother were comfortable after the divorce. Once I understood all this, I was able with her granddaughters help to identify her in photos my grandpa had kept.